🍗😍🙌 My Grilled Sweet and Spicy Basil Chicken features PERFECTLY grilled chicken that’s sweet and spicy with tons of FRESH basil flavor! I serve it with a side of lightly charred grilled vegetables, and it’s perfect for summer barbecues, picnics, potlucks, and grilling season!
Easy Grilled Sweet and Spicy Basil Chicken Recipe
This is potentially the best grilled chicken I have ever made. I am not exaggerating. And I have made a lot of grilled chicken in my life! I have over 25 different grilled chicken recipes on my blog, and this is my current Number One, without a doubt!
I promise your whole family, friends, and your entire neighborhood block will come running when they get a whiff of what you’re grilling!
Whether you want to make the barbecue chicken and grilled vegetables for the unofficial kickoff to summer for Memorial Day Weekend, Father’s Day, Fourth of July, or Labor Day. Or for casual get-togethers in the backyard and barbecuing with a cold drink in hand, or a simple, easy weeknight meal just for your own family, it’ll be a slam dunk with everyone who tries it.
No Grill but Love the Recipe?
For those of you who don’t have a grill but love the idea of this basil chicken recipe, I suggest making my Sticky Basil Chicken recipe on your stovetop.
You can even try using one of the Sauce Goddess sauces rather than making the homemade sauce I call for in the recipe. Lots of ways to create Thai basil chicken!
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Ingredients in Grilled Basil Sweet and Spicy Chicken
To make this easy and super scrumptious grilled basil sweet and spicy chicken, you only need a handful of ingredients, as in just 5 items!
- Boneless skinless chicken breast – I tend to use boneless skinless chicken breasts almost exclusively when I grill. It’s just the easiest and what my family asks for. However, you can use boneless, skinless chicken thighs. Or use cuts of chicken with the skin on. If you’re using bone-in chicken, you will need to play around with the cooking times a bit since chicken can take longer to cook with the bone still in, but it will vary based on the cut and your grill
- Sweet and Spicy Cayenne Grilling Sauce
- Olive oil
- Apple cider vinegar
- Salt
- Fresh basil leaves, for garnishing
Note: All ingredients amounts are listed in the recipe card section when you keep scrolling down.
Ingredients in Sweet Heat Grilled Vegetables
Rounding out your grilled chicken or any protein you throw on the grill, from steaks to Grilled Pork Chops to Kabobs or Honey Barbecue Grilled Shrimp, it’s nice to have some grilled veggies on the side!
For this version of grilled veggies, I used the following:
- Veggies – Broccoli, zucchini, yellow squash (summer squash), red bell pepper (or any color), or red onion. I chose the vegetables that I did because I had them on hand and they’re common summertime veggies. They also cook in about the same amount of time, based on how I chopped them. But feel free to incorporate other vegetables, including asparagus, mushrooms, corn, tomatoes, cauliflower, Brussels sprouts, eggplant, or whatever you love. Note that some of those will cook much faster, such as the asparagus and cauliflower will take the longest. Keep an eye on them and pull them off when they’re done
- Olive oil
- Spicy Barbecue Sweet Heat Seasoning
- Salt and black pepper
Note: All ingredients amounts are listed in the recipe card section when you keep scrolling down.
How to Make Spicy-Sweet Grilled Basil Chicken
To make my new favorite grilled chicken recipe, follow these simple and foolproof steps, and you too will be enjoying your new favorite grilled chicken.
Step 1: Pound your chicken to an even thickness, slice into palm-sized pieces, and place them in a large zip-top bag. Pour some Sweet and Spicy Cayenne Grilling Sauce into the baggie along with olive oil, apple cider vinegar, salt, seal, and squish everything around to coat evenly.
Tip: Make sure to shake your Sauce Goddess sauce well since there is no xanthum gum added to any of their products to thicken it.
Step 2: Allow the chicken to marinate for at least 30 minutes, or up to 8 hours.
Step 3: Preheat your grill to medium-high heat. Grill the chicken on the first side for about 4-5 minutes. Grill for about 3-4 minutes on the second side. The time varies by grill heat intensity and output, of course.
Step 4: After the chicken is basically cooked through, brush on a generous layer of Sweet and Spicy Cayenne Grilling Sauce to the top side of each breast, turn down the heat to medium-low, close the lid, and allow it to cook for another 1 minute or so.
Step 5: Remove chicken from the grill, garnish generously with fresh basil, and serve with the grilled veggies!
Get Ahead!
While your chicken is marinating, especially if you only plan on marinating about 30 minutes, start chopping, slicing, and dicing your veggies for the grilled vegetables portion of the recipe.
How to Grill Vegetables
Making grilled vegetables is a cinch. I don’t know why restaurants charge so much for grilled vegetables when they’re one of the most inexpensive and easiest side dishes you’ll ever make!
Here’s what to do:
Step 1: Trim broccoli into large bite-sized florets, dice the zucchini and yellow squash into chunky bite-sized pieces, slice the bell peppers in 1/2-inch vertical strips, and slice the onion vertically into chunky wedges.
Step 2: Place everything in a large grill basket.
Step 3: Evenly and generously drizzle with olive oil, shake on Spicy Barbecue Sweet Heat Seasoning, salt, pepper, and toss well to coat evenly.
Step 4: Grill for about 10 to 15 minutes, flipping and tossing with grilling tongs intermittently.
Step 5: Serve with the grilled chicken!
Not Enough Grill Space?
No worries if you don’t have enough grill space. I have a pretty big grill and I needed to cook in stages. First, I grilled the veggies in the grill basket with the red pepper strips and some of the onions next to the basket (they wouldn’t all fit in my basket).
I took those off the grill, let them rest, and then grilled the chicken. The chicken actually cooks a little faster than the veggies – in about 9-10 minutes total vs. about 13-15 minutes for the vegetables.
Serving Suggestions for Grilled Sweet and Spicy Basil Chicken
Storage
The recipes for both the grilled basil sweet and spicy chicken and the sweet heat grilled vegetables makes a hefty quantity and you can serve about 8, give or take, depending on appetites.
Should you find yourself with leftovers, both the chicken and the vegetables will keep airtight in the fridge for up to 5 days or in the freezer for up to 4 months, noting the texture of the vegetables will change if you freeze them.
Tips for the Best Basil Grilled Chicken
There’s nothing I love more than warmer weather because it means that grill season is in full force and these easy recipes for the best grilled sweet and spicy basil chicken and sweet heat grilled vegetables really are just that – easy!
Here a few final pointers and tips:
- Even Thickness of Chicken – It’s normal for chicken breasts to be thicker on one end and thinner on the other. But this isn’t ideal for cooking, baking, or grilling chicken. One side will cook through faster than the other. I suggest you pound the chicken to even out the overall thickness.
- Thinner Cuts of Chicken – In general thinner cuts of chicken are easier to manage because you don’t have to worry about raw interiors with burnt exteriors, especially if you’re new(er) to grilling.
Therefore, I recommend:
- Pounding your chicken with a meat tenderizer to an even thickness. It doesn’t have to be (and shouldn’t be) paper thin, but it needs to be uniform.
- Slice thick or overly large chicken breasts in half horizontally.
- Buy chicken breasts labeled “thin-sliced” and/or “chicken tenders”. Both of these options are the least economical but also no other work on your part.
- Don’t Peek, Don’t Disturb – Resist the urge to open the grill lid and check on and keep peeking at your chicken. Don’t lift it up with a tongs, either. Keep the lid closed to allow the internal temp in the grill rise sufficiently and quickly, and after about 4 minutes (depending on the thickness and size), you can gently try to lift up one corner of the chicken. If it releases pretty easily, it’s ready to be flipped. But if it doesn’t, it likely needs another minute or to.
- Let it Rest – I always let my proteins rest for 5 to 10 minutes before slicing into them and grilled chicken is no exception. The chicken will taste better if you allow the natural juices to stay sealed in rather than cutting in too soon, and the juices and flavor run out.
Grilled Basil Chicken
Equipment
- 1 Large Grill Basket
- 1 Grill
Ingredients
Chicken
- 2 to 2 ½ pounds boneless skinless chicken breasts, pounded to an even thickness or sliced thin
- ½ jar of Sweet and Spicy Cayenne Grilling Sauce, divided
- 3 to 4 tablespoons olive oil
- 2 tablespoons apple cider vinegar, lemon or lime juice may be substituted
- 2 to 3 teaspoons kosher salt, or to taste
- ⅓ cup finely minced fresh basil leaves, for garnishing; or as desired
Grilled Vegetables
- 1 medium to large head broccoli, with florets trimmed
- 2 medium zucchini, cut into large bite-sized pieces
- 2 medium yellow squash, summer squash, cut into large bite-sized pieces
- 1 large red bell pepper, or any color, seeded and sliced into 3/4-inch wide strips
- 1 medium red onion, sliced vertically into chunky wedges
- 3 to 4 tablespoons olive oil
- 2 teaspoons Spicy Barbecue Sweet Heat Seasoning, or as desired
- 1 to 2 teaspoon salt, or as desired
- 1 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper, or as desired
Instructions
Chicken
- Pound chicken to an even thickness with a meat tenderizer (or use thin-cut chicken breasts). Tip – It's important that chicken is a uniform thickness so it cooks evenly. If you're newer to grilling, working with thinner-cut breasts is often easier to judge when the chicken is done.
- To a large ziptop bag, add the chicken, add about 1/3 cup of Sweet and Spicy Cayenne Grilling Sauce (use Sticky Sweet Brown Sugar Barbecue Sauce instead if you're concerned about spiciness), the olive oil, apple cider vinegar, salt, seal bag, and squish the contents around to evenly coat all the pieces of chicken. Tips – Always add salt to your taste preferences. However adding enough salt + the acidity of the vinegar in the marinade mixture really helps the chicken to not only taste good, but it will absorb essential moisture as it marinates and be juicier in the end.
- Place bag in the refrigerator to marinate for at least 30 minutes, up to about 6-8 hours.
Vegetables
- To a large grill basket, add all the vegetables, liberally drizzle olive oil over them, evenly sprinkle the Spicy Barbecue Sweet Heat Seasoning (use Moroccan Twist instead if you're concerned about spiciness), evenly sprinkle salt and pepper, to taste, Tips – I am pretty generous with salt and pepper for grilled vegetables because some of it is lost to the grill, and in this case you're seasoning many pounds worth of vegetables and they will taste best when properly seasoned so don't be shy.
Grilling
- Preheat your grill to medium-high heat. Tips – I start by grilling the vegetables because they may take a bit longer to grill than the chicken. Plus it gives the chicken a chance to marinate longer. If you have a very large grill, you may be able to do it all at once, but I can't quite fit everything easily and I can keep an eye on things better if I grill the veg and chicken separately.
- Place the grill basket on the grill with the vegetables and grill for about 10 to 15 minutes, with the lid closed. Every 3 to 5 minutes or so, stir and flip the veggies in the basket with a tongs and close the lid again. Tip – If you don't have enough space in your grill basket, it's ok to grill the red peppers and chunky onion wedges on the grill grates, but note they will cook faster when directly on the grates so pay attention so they're not burning.
- Place the grilled veggies on a platter or in a bowl, optionally cover with a sheet of foil to keep warmer; and set aside while you grill the chicken.
- Tip – Make sure the heat level of your grill is in the medium to medium-high range, but not on high or you will burn the chicken due to the sugar content in the marinade and sauce!
- Place the chicken breasts on the grill grates, close the lid, and leave the chicken breasts there about 4 to 5 minutes before you open the lid and gently lift one corner of one of the breasts with a tongs. If it releases easy, it's ready to be flipped. If not, let it cook for another minute or two. Tips – Always cook chicken based on how long it needs to be cooked based on the heat intensity and output of your grill, the thickness and size of your chicken, etc. Times will vary and so use my time estimates as a guideline only.
- Grill the chicken on the second side for about 3 to 4 minutes, or until nearly done.
- Evenly brush a generous amount of Sweet and Spicy Cayenne Grilling Sauce over the top of each chicken breast, close the lid, turn the heat down if necessary, and allow it to sit for 1 to 2 minutes, or until it's a bit thicker and has set up a bit.
- Remove the chicken from the grill, place it on a platter, and I always recommend allowing the chicken to rest for 5 to 10 minutes before slicing it so the natural juices stay sealed in.
- Garnish liberally with fresh basil and serve warm with the grilled vegetables. Extra chicken and vegetables will keep airtight in the fridge for up to 5 days or in the freezer for up to 4 months, noting the texture of the vegetables will change if you freeze and then thaw them.
Nutrition
Nutrition information is automatically calculated, so should only be used as an approximation.
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Post is brought to you by Sauce Goddess. The recipe, images, text, and opinions expressed are my own.
This looks amazing and I can’t wait to try it. however, i could not get the coupon code to work. Is this sold strictly on line?
It is sold in retail stores. Here you can see if there is anything in your area. And thank you for LMK that you are having difficulty with the code. I am messaging my contact now and will update the post today!
https://saucegoddess.com/finding-the-goddess/retail-locations/
Hi Averie’s readers. Here’s a short list of retailers if you don’t want to shop on our website. Sprouts-spice shakers, Meijer-spice tins, Whole Foods and Fred Meyer, QFC and King Soopers-sauces, Central Market-spice shakers and then there are a lot of indie retailers throughout the country.
The owner double checked and it is working successfully on her end and other readers have used it. So definitely try again and make sure you’re entering it like this: AverieCooks